Jin'ei: A Man's Soul
by JeniOctavia Ramsey
Summary: Shunned in our world, three warriors fight thankless battles aganst the evil that threatens Earth. They live in solitude, on the fringe of society. Now thrown in to a new world, do they have what it takes to survive and help a young man save his home from
1. Chapter One: Phonecalls

**Jin'ei: A Man's Soul**

Title: Jin'ei: A Man's Soul  
Author: JeniOctavia Ramsey  
Summary: They were shunned on our world, three warriors who thanklessly saved Earth from the evils that were, with powers passed down from ancient beings that once thrived and vanished in to the mists of time. Social outcasts, they lived on the fringe of society, unable to be among 'normal' human beings. Hurled in to a new place, can they find what it takes to save a world that isn't thier own and help a young man protect his home from a new kind of evil?  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Legend of Zelda, but Jenria, Ceilidh, and Adian are mine. And...any other original characters that may pop up later on.  
A/N: This. Is. Long. I think I said this at the huge Author's Forward, but I think it needs to be said again. I don't write two, three page chapters. I go all out, so read this only if you feel you can stay commited to my blathering stupidity. :)

Chapter One

Canby, Oregon

2005

It started with the phone calls.

At first Jenria Hikaru thought nothing of them. Even if the phone number belonging to the secluded country two-story farmhouse was unlisted, she knew there were still ways for silly teenagers to get a hold of it and start in on prank calls. They probably thought they were tormenting some crotchety old woman.

The first time it rang she was a tiny bit surprised, as both of her housemates were currently in the house, down in the basement game room murdering each other on one fighting game or another. While they each had cell phones of their own, they rarely used them, even when out. The phone was a courtesy thing as well, there for the use of an emergency and hardly anything else, just like their mobiles. Any of the houses amenities were simply to make life on that distant plot of land easier, and were most often paid for in cash to the local small town companies, eliminating any chance of a major paper trail.

Obscurity was their credo, and they had learned to live by it very well.

So when the phone rang, Jenria's expression was one of severe confusion, eyebrows arched eye and forehead furrowed. She could hear it from the upstairs office, as the door was currently open and the room was directly across from the stairwell that lead down to the kitchen where the cordless sat on the kitchen counter. She doubted her housemates could also hear it, though, as they so often had the volume turned up on the big screen it was like being in a movie theater.

She leaned over in her chair, staring through the open doorway to the stairs, hesitant to go down and pick it up. The phone continued to ring, its incessant electronically made noise begging her to come and answer. Whoever it was, they were being quite insistent. Sighing she rose from her office chair and headed slowly down the stairwell, hoping that the caller might realize they had a wrong number and simply hang up. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs and started in to the kitchen foyer the ringing had a certain shrill, desperate quality about it, imagined of course, but annoying to Jenria's ears nonetheless.

She paused at the counter, staring at the white handheld sitting so innocently in its cradle. She reached a reluctant hand towards it and finally lifted the receiver to her ear, a tiny beep telling her that the phone was now on and connected.

"Hello?" she asked in a somewhat normal tone that she'd managed to bring up at the last second.

Nothing but silence greeted her on the other end.

"Hello?" she asked again, more demanding this time.

A soft, almost unheard hiss could be heard, all too short to identify a source.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" she questioned, trying to keep the concern out of her voice.

This time a longer hiss, then a click. The other end had hung up, leaving her with a dial tone and a strange expression upon her face. She let out a sigh and placed the receiver back where it belonged. Just then Adian Cannon, Jenria's oldest and only male housemate came through the adjoining basement door, empty plate and cup in his hands. He paused seeing Jenria standing near the phone, her face still knotted in upset.

"Hey, everything all right, Jen?" he asked, going to set his dishes in the sink. Jenria's head jerked up, not expecting to see him there.

'Uh. Yeah. Nothing's wrong," she assured him, putting a smile to convince him that her words were true.

He frowned uncertainly, gesturing to the phone with a nod of his head.

"Some one call?" he asked, the same tone of cautiousness that Jenria had taken when answering the ringing contraption. She glanced down at the phone again, momentarily lost in thought before answering.

"Solicitors," she said in a strangely flat tone. Before Adian had a chance to inquiry anymore, she turned and retreated back up the stairs. The older boy kept his worried frown but chose not to follow. Instead he went to the phone and pressed the 'up' button for Caller ID, but found only a frustrating 'unavailable' for a response.

Giving a shrug, he returned to the basement for more gaming.

That was where Jenria had hoped it would end, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that she should only be so lucky.

Yet weeks passed and nothing of noting significance occurred. Life in the house continued as usual, Adian going to do the occasional shopping in town with the group's one car, a beat up but reliable 2000 Ford Escape, Jenria working desperately on her online courses, and the other female housemate Ceilidh O'Dalley MacKinnon spending her time to herself, either reading a book or playing video games. In the grand scheme of things, existence for the three social outcasts seemed plaintive at best, more like three ghosts unwilling to give up life even if they couldn't live within it.

That was how things had been for years, though, and they were accustomed to it. Perhaps not content with it, but at least they had grown to realize that there was little else they could do. They were different from the rest of the world, and they knew it all too well. It was best to stay out of the public eye, and out of public in general. The place they had chosen to make their home was far enough from civilization to put them at ease, but close enough that they could still survive. Those in the tiny community of Canby just up the rural highway never asked any questions of Adian when he went in to town, at least aloud, and that was just fine with him.

It was these things that Jenria had been contemplating late one evening when Adian was out and Ceilidh was spending time in the small forest that surrounded the field when the phone rang again. Her spine tensed at the sound, faint in her large corner room but still audible as the house was deathly silent from within that night. Worrying that her fellow housemate could possibly be in danger, she wasted no time getting down to the kitchen.

However when she picked it up and found herself connected to the other end once more, she only heard that familiar static hissing noise. She listened instead of questioning the presence on the other side. The hiss went in three-second lengths, with about five seconds in between each one. It continued that way for nearly a minute before it switched to something entirely new: a voice. Not a normal voice, though. It wasn't speaking English, or any earth-bound sounding language for that matter. It sounded high, and in fact it seemed to be singing more than speaking. The tone was similar to that of a harp, sharp and ringing but in a haunting melodic sense. It was soft; so much that normal phone line distortion nearly covered it up entirely. Had the house not been so quiet, Jenria wouldn't have picked up on it entirely.

She blinked several times, completely lost as to what exactly it was she was hearing. She stood there, listening, straining her ears to wade through the thoughts racing through her mind. It simply continued on, repeating what sounded like three notes, possibly three words, over and over again. She finally slammed down the phone in annoyance. Pranks, kids pulling pranks. It simply had to be. They'd located the house number somehow and thought it fun to torment her.

She returned to her room, sticking to her resolve that she had the answer in that thin little explanation, hoping that the pranksters had gotten their fun and were done messing around with her.

Two days passed, and Jenria was once again alone in the house when the phone rang. She was more hesitant this time, but worried too much about leaving Adian or Ceilidh in trouble to simply let it ring this time. Yet she had the same experience: this hissing then the strange voice singing those disturbing three notes. A part of her pinned down the possible tune as something of a lament, as there was a certain sadness about it that very slightly struck a cord with her. However she refused to believe it any more than cruel jokes.

Yet it continued to happen, and she was alone every time the electronic trill of the landline started up once more. Every time its grating sound filled the quiet house, not a single soul save for her was in the large dwelling, and the more it happened the more disturbed she became. Eventually she stopped picking it up all together, sending out a prayer that her friends were actually safe rather than lift the receiver to find out that they weren't. She couldn't take it anymore, hearing those bizarre noises and getting absolutely no answers in the mean time.

Then one day it stopped. She was in the office expecting the phone to ring and it never once uttered a single noise. Weeks began to pass once more in silent bliss, and soon the incidents were shunned from her mind all together.

"Pranks," she told herself with defining certainty, "That's all they were. Pranks."

Still something in her heart warned her not to brush things off so simply, for she would know better than anyone: life was far from simple.

Happy to just put it behind her, she ignored the voice of reason and went back to business as usual.

Almost a month after the calls had stopped, the three of them were sitting in the main living room enjoying a meal that Jenria had made up while watching a new movie that Adian had bought for them. The film was quite suspenseful, and the added ambiance of lights off and a single lamp on low lighting in the connecting dining hall had them all wound tense, enjoying the plot twists and intense parts. Every time some one jumped the other two would chuckle and poke good-natured fun until they were pulled once more in to the action of the movie.

Suddenly amidst a very graphic murder scene a cell phone went off, cutting through the room like a knife with its musical polyphonic ring tone that was probably from some video game or another. All three let out yelps of surprise, looking around for the source of the disturbance like animals caught on the hunt. Adian grabbed the remote and paused the DVD, annoyance replacing nervousness.

"It's not mine," he stated, "mine's in my room."

The ring tone continued, loud and long with its aggravating song played in such a way that songs should never be portrayed in. All three got up off the couch, moving their dinner trays back to search for the source of the phone. Finally Adian checked behind one of the end tables, retrieving an older Nokia model with a scratched red and black case.

"Mine," Ceilidh admitted sheepishly, reaching out to take it. Before Adian could hand it over, though, Jenria snatched it clean out of his hand, holding it up to her face to see the glowing screen. The illumination cast a sickly green glow upon her fair skinned features, her wide eyes making her face akin to that of a frightening porcelain mask.

"Jen?" Adian queried, moving towards her anxiously. He didn't like the look she had about her, and a ball of tenseness was building in his stomach. Something felt terribly wrong. Ceilidh, however, didn't seem to notice, as she was waving her hand in the air talking about prank phone calls and how she never gave her number out, even if Adian didn't believe her on that. Jenria pressing the answer button and holding the phone up to her ear silenced her rambling, fingers trembling in a death tight grip around the small mobile.

"H-hello?" she asked, tripping over the simple word.

"Jen…ri…a…" a whisper soft voice greeted her, the sound strangely distorted and cracked. The young girl turned her frightened gaze to her two friends, both of who were staring back in wonder and fright. Her lips opened but no words emerged, just a weak cry of surprise that she could barely force out.

The singing, the strange lamenting tune, began, louder this time, almost urgent sounding. The volume, though normally not quite so blaring at its highest had some how been pushed higher, for everyone, not just Jenria, could hear this strange song.

"Wha…?" Ceilidh mumbled, pointing at her phone and looking to Adian for answers, as if he had any at all to give. He was too wrapped up in Jenria to notice the younger girl's half asked question.

The first voice spoke her name again in the same broken manner, and then followed it with the names of her two friends. The poor girl was terrified, her body trembling as she clutched the phone so hard her knuckles turned white. Adian and Ceilidh could only watch on in concerned silence, uncertain, wondering if they should do anything yet wondering more if they even could.

Jenria turned to them, pallid and stricken. She went to speak, but was instantly cut off by a sudden and horridly shrill noise that came through the phone and filled the entire room with its presence. All three screamed, the noises ripping in to their eardrums like claws to flesh. Jenria released the phone and threw her hands over her ears, curling in to a fetal position while remaining on her feet. Adian put his hands over his ears as well and looked at Ceilidh.

"Sorry!" he yelled above the din before slamming his foot down on the cellular contraption repeatedly. Its light frame crushed easily with a sharp crack, and the room was filled with a sudden ringing silence. Adian breathed a sigh of relief, turning apologetic eyes to his friend. She gave a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.

"I needed an upgrade anyway," she said simply, though her voice was just slightly shaken.

Adian nodded and went to kneel down by Jenria. She was still curled up, knees pulled to her chest, head ducked down and arms wrapped above her head. Body quaking, weak whimpers emitting from her curled up form, she refused to raise herself up even after the shrieking had ceased. Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, Adian coaxed the girl to raising her head enough to look at him.

"The call. That wasn't the first time?" he guessed, receiving a slow nod in reply, "Something about that voice, though…?"

There was a long silence, Jenria simply staring up at him as if not really seeing him.

"The voice…it was Andrea…"


	2. Chapter Two: On the Run

Chapter Two

"Andrea?" Ceilidh nearly shrieked, her voice rising in both pitch and volume as she stared in utter incredulity at Jenria, "Ohno, you're not starting any of this _Sixth Sense _'I see ghosts' bullshit, Jen!" the younger girl added, crossing her arms over her chest and taking a defiant stance as if it would change what the older Asian girl had heard over the phone. Jenria gaped at her friend's sudden indifference, a stray tear rolling down her cheek as more welled up in her lipid blue orbs.

"Cool it!" Adian snapped over his shoulder at Ceilidh. Something in the tone of his voice, an urgent echo in his words, actually moved the girl to silence when normally she would have continued on her rant. She snapped her mouth shut, staring at Jenria in a way that said she very nearly believed the whole thing was her fault to begin with. Adian turned back to Jenria, continuing to rub a hand over her arm comfortingly, "You sure it was her?"

"Sounded like her…" she mumbled back in reply, still gazing at Ceilidh with pleading eyes, wishing the girl would stop with her own glaring, "I'm serious. That voice, no one could fake it without having known her for _years_," she advocated, as much to Ceilidh as to Adian, "I know I know she's dead. We all saw it happen, but there was no mistaking her voice on that," she pointed to the crushed remains of the once black and red Nokia mobile.

Adian nodded silently, a frown on his features as he mulled things over in his mind. Finally he rose and forced Jenria to stand with him despite how horridly she was still quaking.

"Get some things together. Enough for a long trip. Bring your bankcards, your cash, everything. Leave the cells, though," he explained in a stern voice, glancing between the two girls who could only stare in confusion back at him.

"Adian, what - "Ceilidh, eyebrows knitting together.

"Do it. No arguments, just do it," he snapped, cutting her off without even a breath's hesitation. Though he was still standing before Jenria, hands on her shoulders to keep her from collapsing all over again, his face was dead serious, looking as if he could simply let her fall right then if only to remind Ceilidh of who was in charge via physical force. He wouldn't, though, as it was not in his nature to ever behave like that, and in fact his eyes were stricken as if some one had dropped a major emotional bomb on top of his head and left him to deal with it completely alone.

_I suppose in a way Jenria did just that, _Ceilidh reasoned as she nodded slowly to him, turning to head to her upstairs room, _He was the closest to Andrea, and probably just hearing her name threw him back to the 'good old days'. Shit, man…just when we think life is gonna be all peaceful and crap…_

Jenria watched the younger one leave the room and head up the stairwell before turning her watery gaze back on Adian. His stern leader face had vanished, leaving instead the same wounded appearance that was in his eyes before had taken to being written all across his face.

"What is it?" she asked hesitantly. A shake of his head was all she got for a response, "You'll tell us. Eventually, right?"

"After we leave. Please, Jen, no more. Just go get your stuff. We need to get out of here as fast as we possibly can," Adian pleaded, gripping her shoulders a touch tighter than he had been. Her lips pursed as if she were prepared to give argument, but instead she replied with a single nod. She detached herself from his grasp, stumbling slightly as she attempted to make it up the stairs. Adian let out a hefty sigh, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared out the window to the darkened field beyond. There was a deep ominous aura about that particular night, how the darkness seemed thicker than usual, as if it were trying to crush the whole old farmhouse in on itself.

_I hate running…_

"It was a warning," Adian suddenly said after a good half hour of driving in complete silence along a dark country road where only the occasional sickly yellow cone of light was cast down from ill maintained street lamps placed anywhere from a mile to five hundred feet apart.

Jenria, riding shotgun in the car, turned to Adian with a quirked eyebrow. Ceilidh leaned forward in interest, resting her arms on the back of Jenria's seat. Even though they had all since calmed a great deal after leaving the house in a rush, Jenria still had a hint of paleness about her, a gray tinge touching her skin that hadn't quite gone away, and Ceilidh and Adian both wore almost identical expressions of deep seeded worry that couldn't be shaken off. A handful of thir belongings were stowed in the trunk, the house left trashed in a sign of flight.

"A warning?" Jenria finally echoed after he refused to continue.

"Mhm. From Andrea, and before you say anything," he stated in a slightly louder tone, silencing Ceilidh who had started to speak again, finger in the air as she was prepared to make her earlier comment once again, "she gave it to me _before _she died."

He glanced at both girls, Jenria off to his side and Ceilidh through the rear view mirror. Both were waiting for him to carry on with his explanation.

"About a week before…before that battle, we were talking in her room. She actually told me she wasn't going to survive it. Not in so many words, though. It was something like 'I'm not going to be around for much longer'. I, being dumb, at the time took that to mean she was going to leave the group. She foresaw her own end, and you can believe me or call me a king bull-shitter, but _none _of us can deny that she was different from even us. In any case she said, 'You'll get your answers someday, after I'm gone. You have to run, first. Don't question it, just run. If you don't, you'll never live to see those answers'."

The car was hushed after Adian had concluded his explanation. Even the very breath the three took in and out of their bodies had a certain muted quality to it.

Keeping his eyes on the road, Adian added one more thing in a soft, almost strained voice.

"She knew I hated running, she had to give me the right incentive to do it. I wouldn't…I wouldn't have known otherwise, had that voice not been heard tonight."

"Was it really her, though?" Jenria asked, becoming slightly skeptical now that the initial shock had worn off and she'd become a fraction more lucid.

"I can't say. Whatever it was, it knew that I would listen if it was her," was his almost vague answer, given after shrugging noncommittally.

"Then what are we running from? I mean…the singing, and the noises…Adian, _what _was she warning us against? What if she was wrong, or worse, what if she was _right_ but what we're up against is too strong even for us!" she continued to press, gazing at him with urgency in her eyes.

"I don't know!" Adian snapped, fingers gripping the wheel tightly. Both girls flinched, causing him to relax as much as he could manage to, "I don't know, hun. I really don't. I just have to trust her, trust what she said."

This earned him a frown and a reluctant nod from the Asian as she sat back in her seat and gazed out at the fields rolling by their car. A sign they passed put them at five miles to Mount Angel. Whether they would stop there, though, was only in Adian's mind and in no one else's, and was most definitely not something she felt up to asking at the moment. Something else, however, tugged at her mind long enough for her let it pass over her lips.

"Adian?"

"Hm?" Adian responded softly as rain started to patter at the windshield. A thin sheen of water built up before he even moved to turn the windshield wipers on, and the world outside added murkiness to its already thickly dark appearance.

"Was she…did she seem at peace when she talked to you?"

An uncomfortable silence followed before Adian cleared his throat and shook his head, voice cracking just a tiny bit. Jenria closed her eyes, not wanting to turn her eyes towards him for fear that she would find him in tears.

"No. No, she wasn't…"

In the end they drove half the night and well in to the amber light of early morning, Adian deliberately taking less known and windy roads the entire trip. Somewhere between Mount Angel and Silverton, the girls fell in to uncomfortable, tense sleep, Jenria often whimpering every few moments, her face screwed up with the images she was seeing through the fog of dreams. A few times Adian longed to reach over and soothe her with a touch and a kind whispered word, yet he some how knew nothing was going to ease the girl this night; too much had seeped in to all their minds, leaving them to be gripped in the clutches of emotional pain that dreams might bring.

Seeing his tank low on gas and feeling fatigue weigh on his eyelids and reaction times, Adian pulled in to a cheap out of the way roadside motel about five miles outside of Albany. He parked the car out in front of the office, pulling his jacket over his head to dash in through the now pounding rain that had hounded the car since its journey began. Though jeweled hues flickered smoky in the dawn sky, the day was already proving to be a dreary one with the droplets that cascaded down.

He quickly paid for a two-bed room in cash, avoiding the slightly antsy and curious stares from the grungy worker behind the counter. It was a scruffy place at best, and not a very hospitable one at that, but the reluctant leader of the three knew that it was better this way, less conspicuous and noticeable.

After he had the key in hand, he quickly went back and drove the car around to the shorter side of the L-Shaped building. It took a while to rouse the girls, and while Ceilidh just stumbled around bleary-eyed, mumbling about wanting to go back to sleep, Jenria nearly sent Adian flying with a punch thrown in terror after being yanked so roughly from a terrible dream. She apologized repeatedly as the three dragged their tired, car worn bodies and belongings inside the dingy hotel room, but Adian waved it off as nothing important.

Ceilidh instantly hit the first bed without even bothering to find covers, asleep within seconds. Jenria, though yawning still, had decided she was done with frightening dreams for the night and opted to take a watch shift, knowing good and well that Adian was going to bring it up the second they arrived. Shaking his head at Ceilidh's actions, he gave the other girl a grateful smile and took the other bed for himself.

She herself took the table near the window, drawing up the blinds part way and sitting with her arms resting on the table's surface. Though tense and observant at anything even remotely out of the ordinary, Jenria tried desperately to will her mind away from any dark thoughts that she might brood upon, yet the silence of the room, save for the soft breathing of her friends, and the golden sun so dusty and faded behind the grayness of the morning simply allotted too much free time for one's musings to wander in to unwanted territory.

_A warning, given by a friend three years dead. Weird phone calls for over a month, stopping and starting just as sudden as they please. Ominous feelings all around. ...well, no one ever said we had a normal life. Just what does it all _mean _though? She told Adian we'd get answers, but that raises another important question: are we _ready _for those answers?_

She let out a heavy sigh, squinting as the sun managed to peek through its veil briefly before continuing to lift high in the sky behind the gray blanket. Turning her tired eyes away, she rubbed at her forehead and glanced back at her two friends, a deep frown creasing her features.

_What if we can't outrun this? We've already lost so much...could any one of us survive, emotionally and mentally, should they lose the other two? I know I couldn't. What an existence we have here. We couldn't just be normal like the rest of the world, could we?_

Wincing at her mental running, she shook her head at no one in particular and went back to gazing out of the window, silencing her mind once and for all. Getting completely caught up in her own depressive though process was no way to spend a watch shift, especially when vigilance was of the up most importance.

Hours passed in what felt like days, and the grayness of the day never broke, rain eventually joining in the gloom as if it thought the ambiance wasn't dreary enough. Just when she thought her eyes were going to burn from the inside out from being open for so long, a gentle hand clasped her shoulder. Adian was above her, giving a weak and weary smile from beneath red eyes and too little sleep. He gestured to the bed with a silent wave of his hand. Jenria hesitated, not wanting to be taken over by terrible dreams once more, but knowing good and well that if she didn't rest some time, she would become more of a liability should something happen.

She rose, stretching out her sore, stiff joints, and stumbled half-awake to the comfort of a mattress and warm covers. She was asleep within minutes, leaving Adian now to the silent din of the hotel room.

The shifts changed twice, Ceilidh taking over for Adian; Jenria taking over for Ceilidh, before Adian finally woke and roused the youngest of the three along with him. He gathered them at the table and asked for quick reports from both of them. Neither had seen anything out of the ordinary, but each felt a certain presence nearing their location.

"It's going slow," Ceilidh mumbled, tracing a finger along the table as she tried to wake her body from sleep. Messy tendrils of red covered half her face, the other half slightly scrunched up from her chin resting heavily in her hand, "Teasing. Like it doesn't want us to run away quickly, but it still wants us to know its coming."

Adian nodded slowly, his own gaze turned out the glass pane, "So we all know now. We can all feel it."

"Adian, what the hell are we supposed to do? Just keep running, hotel to crappy third rate hotel-"

"Well if you'd rather take a credit card and stay at the damn _Hilton_," Adian snapped angrily, turning his cold eyes on Jenria. She only returned the glare and continued on undaunted.

"-trying to out run some unknown, unidentified force for the rest of our lives? I mean, shit hun, I know she said 'run or you won't survive', but for how long? And what's going to happen when it catches us? Which, undoubtedly it will, considering we're, oh, you know, three spiritually gifted young adults who probably show up on the radars of dark forces like a Goddamn 747 coming in for a hot landing!"

Jenria's last statement left a ringing silence in the air for nearly two minutes before Adian finally muttered in a flat, irritated tone, "You talk a lot."

"And you're a loony," the Asian retorted.

"She's got a point, Aiddy," Ceilidh managed to chime in, her voice quieter than usual as she was prepared to get a thorough verbal lashing for agreeing with Jenria. Aidan let out a growling sigh, pressing two fingers to the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes.

"I'm aware," he said shortly, "but if you haven't noticed, Andrea didn't give me much of a backup plan."

"I thought it was your job to come up with a plan in the first place,"

"Jesus, Jenria! Chill the 'eff out!" Adian suddenly exclaimed, standing up and throwing his chair against the table. The noise echoed through the room, a loud crack that sounded nearly as lethal as a gun firing. Jenria and Adian stared each other down, Ceilidh finding herself with her head in her hands, muttering things about 'insane people'. It very nearly seemed as if the two were going to turn it in a physical scuffle, but Jenria finally put her hands in the air in a truce.

"All right, I'm sorry. I'm just stressed out about this. You gotta remember, _I _was the one getting the phone calls originally," she explained as calmly as she could manage. Adian took his seat again, tense and ready for another reason to make a scene but willing to remain placid in light of the recent events.

"I know, I know, but it's not about you anymore. That's not to say you were being selfish, its just...last night it got us _all_ involved, and it probably wanted us all from the start. You were just...the go-to target."

Ceilidh nodded in agreement, running a hand through her mussed hair as she interjected, "That still leaves the question, 'What exactly are we going to do about it?' on the table."

"Look, at this moment I just can't think, this feeling in my gut being so strong. I know you two are having problems with it as well. Let's check out of here, get a little further down the state, and then try to come up with a game plan from there. Agreed?"

Both girls gave a silent nod, and the meeting broke. Adian allowed everyone to take a shower and get cleaned up before the trip out, promising food somewhere down the road. Once the car was repacked Adian went to return the key in the front office.

Instead of the scruffy man from the night before, a much more pleasant older woman of about fifty with grayed hair and fascination with pastel hued clothing greeted him with a smile and a cheerful 'Good afternoon'. Behind her a radio played some sort of contemporary music from a station in the nearby town.

"Not with this weather," Adian commented with a smirk and a thumb jerked over his shoulder at the gloomy outside.

"Hey now, any day is a good day as long as you make it one!" the lady said, retrieving his key from him.

_Guess you would think that, working in a horrid dump like this, _Adian mused, wondering just what had given him such a cynical voice. Perhaps it was all that time hiding away from the world instead of living in it.

Rather than speak his words aloud, though, he simply nodded in agreement, "Okay, good point. I'll keep that in mind."

"Good! Its never good for a young one such as yourself to go about living with his head all in a dark state of mind every day. But listen to me ramble on like that. Probably bored to death of me! Go on, son, and try to have a really good day,"

Adian actually found himself laughing now, pleased by this woman's disposition. It was a stark and welcome contrast to what he'd been facing for the past twenty-four hours. He assured her that he would do just that and began to head for the door just as the radio switched over to afternoon news.

"In our top story today, Canby police are still baffled as to the strange fire that completely overtook a farm house about ten miles outside of town, just on the city border," the radio announcer explained. Adian stopped short of exiting, hand inches from the door handle. The kind woman called to him, but his ears were completely tuned to the news spouting from the speakers of the small radio, "So far nothing indicating arson has been located within the remains of the house, yet investigation crews haven't pinned down an electrical or accidental reason, either. More confusing yet is the current location of the houses' residents, who seem to have simply vanished during the night and have left no indication as to where they might be. An Alex Cross owned the house and it was said by neighbors that he lived with two other females, names unknown. Police are searching for their whereabouts and are working with the townspeople to discern if foul play of some sort was involved. Alex Cross is said to be in his early twenties, with dark blonde or light brown hair..."

"Young man?"

Adian let out a terrified yelp and just about jumped out of his skin. The kind woman was now next to him, a hand on his shoulder and a tight line of worry drawn through her features. She'd probably been there through the entire announcement, and Adian had just completely tuned it out.

"Are you all right? You just stopped right there, dead in your tracks, and turned as white as a sheet!" she asked now that she knew she had his attention. Adian's lips moved but no sound came out. He cleared his throat to rid his mouth of the cotton feeling inside, nodding slowly to the woman.

"I'm fine, really," he assured her, voice too thin for his liking. He prayed she couldn't tell that his fingers were trembling in their outstretched position. She gave him a skeptical look, eyes darting back to the radio for just a moment. The article was over now and had switched to something in local news.

"You sure? Maybe you had a dizzy spell or something. I could get you a drink of water or something. You shouldn't be driving in that condition,"

Adian opened his mouth to accept her offer, if only to put the woman's mind at ease, but he instantly caught sight of her face, realizing that despite the kindness in her voice her expression had changed, eyes suddenly steely.

_Shit. Shit shit shit. She probably thinks I'm a fugitive on the run. She heard the description. Damn paper trails. Even if I used a fake name..._

"Nope, I'm wonderful. Just peachy keen," he said, straightening up and putting on an air of complete indifference even as he blanched at his rather odd wording, "My sister and my girlfriend are waiting, though, so I'd better go before I get my ears chewed off from either end. Thank you very much, and have a wonderful rest of the day," he quickly rambled off, pulling out of the woman's grasp as she stared, mouth agape, at his sudden change of disposition. Without another word or a chance for her to protest he bolted out the door and took off headlong for the car, giving her just enough time to regain her composure. She pushed the door back before it slammed closed and started calling out to him. He didn't slow until he reached the car, providing a very daring move by hopping over the hood, sliding across it and landing rather wobbly on the other side. He quickly regained balance and yanked the driver's side door open, hurling himself inside and starting the car without even closing the door behind him.

Both Jenria and Ceilidh were crying out in shock at him, demanding to know what was happening. He simply cursed under his breath and jerked the car in to reverse, the car emitting a squeal of protest as he did so. He grabbed the car door, yanked it closed, and swung the vehicle around to face the exit. A glance at his rearview mirror showed him the woman darting back inside the office, though for what purpose Adian's adrenaline driving mind could not imagine, even if he could fathom a small guess. Cursing even louder he sped the car out of the parking lot and on to the luckily empty road.

"Adian!"

"Not now, Jen,"

"Damn it, Adian, answer me!"

"Give me a Goddamn minute!"

The car rang silence, minus the car being pushed to its max under the sudden lead foot of its driver. About twenty miles down the road Adian let out a shaky breath and slowed, pulling over to a dirt shoulder that overlooked a set of rolling green hills and a few farmhouses speckled about the land. He left the engine running, taking his foot off the break pedal once the car had stopped. He dropped his head down on the steering wheel, arms draped across it and hands resting on the dashboard. Jenria's brows knitted in worry and she touched two fingers to his shoulder, testing to find out if he'd explode again.

"Our house was burned down," he said, voice muffled and drained, "and the police are looking for us. For questioning, I'm sure, considering we _ran away_ from a burning house rather than calling on their ohsohelpful selves first. Lovely bit of suspicious there."

"Burned...down?" both girls echoed, eyes growing as huge as saucers. Adian nodded, keeping his head rested on the steering wheel as if the very act of lifting it would kill his very spirit right there.

"And the _police _are after us?" Ceilidh added, slapping a hand to her forehead and falling against her seat.

"The woman at the counter, she might have already called them, I dunno. I heard it on the radio and freaked out, got her all concerned. The instant she heard the description she completely changed on me," he added as an afterthought, slumping down in his seat like he'd been transformed in to a wet rag and thrown against it.

"How?" Jenria prodded.

"How, what? How did our house burn down?"

"No, I've got that one figured out. Whatever's after us is obviously pretty cunning. Burn down the house, make it look suspicious..."

"The police catch us and while we're being questioned, we're being fucked at the same time," Adian finished, nodding slowly, "Then you're wondering how the police know? The house was under my alias, but that doesn't stop the fact that so is everything else, bankcard included. I used that for purchases in town, so essentially half of Canby, even as small as it is, knows my face," his head rolled over and he stared at Jenria, expression pained, "There was too little we did to make ourselves completely disappear because we didn't _want _to, but I'll be damned if it hasn't caused our end."

Jenria frowned, shaking her head with a strange resolve as she placed an outstretched hand firmly on his shoulder, "We're not dead yet, and so long as we're still on the road and away from anyone's radar, police included, we'll survive this thing. Somehow."

An eyebrow was raised on Adian's face.

"Three hours ago you were questioning our ability to out run it, now suddenly you're playing Oracle and promising a "Get out of jail free" card?"

Ceilidh gave a giggle, Jenria a shrug and a smile.

"I just saw you haul ass like you've never hauled before, and it made me remember you've pulled us out of the fire too many times to count. Let's called it 'renewed faith', instead of 'Jenria playing Oracle', okay?"

Adian actually mustered a smile as he sat up and brought the car out of park.

"That sounds like the best thing I've heard all day," he agreed, pulling the vehical back on to the road, plotting a new course and small plan.

_Even if she did was about to turn the girls and me in, the woman still had a point. "...any day is a good day as long as you make it one!" Granted evil forces and the police are chasing us, but I think Jen's right, we'll survive so long as we stay one step ahead of the game._


	3. Chapter Three: Beachfront Battle

Chapter Three

A hundred plus miles and a new car later, the trio actually found themselves driving along the scenic coastal highway as the sun was setting low on the ocean horizon. Somewhere east of there they had broken through the monotonous dank of the rainstorms and come across blue skies and cool fall air.

They had stopped near Bend and Jenria, using her alias named driver's license and her bank card, traded in the older Ford Escape for a 2003 F-150 four door at a used car sales lot. Though the salesman had flirted with her almost relentlessly through the buying process, Jenria managed to get them in and out of Bend with their new vehicle flawlessly. Not a single citizen took more than a moment's notice of them. Either news of the strange house fire and missing people had not reached this far down, or the people of this town were simply too involved in their own business to care.

They had broken through the stormy weather and were being treated to the jewels of costal scenery, they found their spirits lifted, actual smiles daring to cross their faces as they felt the foreboding fade along with the distance they put between themselves and their now destroyed Canby home. Eventually they were moving through the tiny community of Yachats, aptly nicknamed "The Gem of the Oregon Coast", which was declared in an expertly made round wooden sign set in to a foundation of round stone that curved along with it.

As they slipped at a reasonable speed through the town, past high set beach houses and ocean front hotels, they each admired how this little dot on the map, more tourist town than home town, seemed to have its own glimmer about it, reflected off the water and the crystal skies above no doubt. As they neared the center of town a large resort with its name boasted in a large lettered wooden sign came in to view.

"The Adobe," Ceilidh commented, leaning forward in the front seat as Jenria drove, "I've heard of them. Supposed to have excellent food, room, the works. One of the more renowned resorts on the coast, next to the Salishan in Depo Bay."

"How do you know all that?" Adian asked, amused that the girl could spout off such information having been stuck in Canby for so long.

"Got a friend that works there," she explained, looking over her shoulder, "Well, did. Haven't seen her since I started living with you guys."

"That's too bad," Jenria said, frowning sideways at her. Ceilidh gave a nonchalant shrug, tilting her head to the side with a small 'Hm' noise.

"I think we're all used to that, losing friends because of...who we are," Adian agreed, "At least we don't have to go it alone, though. It would be a horrid weight, having to carry around all on your own."

All three nodded in solemn agreement as they passed by The Adobe, watching the building as its huge acreage and large beachfront building faded from view. A few miles up a much smaller but nicer looking hotel was spotted. Entirely painted in a green decor and boasting large wooden four leaf clovers on its front, the aptly named Shamrock Inn was set about ten blocks up from the ocean side on a slight incline overlooking housing down below it. Adian pointed towards it, giving Jenria a small smile.

"Maybe not the Hilton, but at least its not so grungy."

"You read my mind, Aiddy."

They found a parking spot and Jenria went to check them in, Adian still too concerned to use anything with his alias on it, even this far down the state. Even with outside doors and small rooms, the place was much nicer than the hotel of the unremembered name back in Albany. The rooms were well maintained, sheets actually white instead of nearly stained yellow, and the slight disinfectant smell was actually for cleanliness and not to simply cover up the horrid odors of previous renters. Adian, having slept a good portion of the ride after getting the truck, chose to take first watch and let the girls sleep. Though she was still being plagued by haunting dreams, even more so since learning of their only home being burned to the ground, she welcomed the chance to rest gladly, even if it was just to lay down and rest her sore body. She loathed driving and avoided it more than either of her companions due to the toll it took on her body, but Adian was also worn from driving, and they worried more about Ceilidh getting pulled over because of her age. Though legal to drive at seventeen years old, some police officers had a bias towards teenagers being behind the wheel and would find reasons to pull them over and possibly take them in.

Sleep never managed to come to Jenria, so she simply laid there for a few hours before rising and bringing up the subject of food to Adian. Though they had managed to stop for a fast food brunch before completely leaving Albany, the day had well passed in to nighttime and Jenria had found herself hungrier than tired anymore.

"I have no idea what this town has for meals," Adian admitted, looking at her from an upside down perspective as he had his head tilted over the back of the chair in order to see her from where he was sitting.

"Ask the front desk. And before you get all freaked out, it was one incident. Asking for food isn't going to get the police called on us," she assured him, seeing the fleeting moment of panic slide across his face at the mention of 'front desk'.

"And if it by some odd chance does get the police called on us?"

Jenria gave a jerk of her shoulders, hands in the air, "We're already social outcasts, why not run and add fugitive to that?"

Adian gave a groan and stood up from his seat, "Jen, you are going to be the death of me," he muttered while grabbing his jacket and wallet off the table. Jenria took his seat with a chuckle.

"Better me than whatever the hell's chasing us, yeah?"

A snort was the only reply Adian felt like giving her as he exited the hotel room and headed for the office. Once there he inquired of a small red-haired woman about possible places to get take out food. She told him a few places, all within walking distance, she explained, since the town hardly spanned more than a mile and a half area in either direction. He gave her thanks and started on his way to the closest one, only to find it closed when he got there. The sign declared it, but it seemed it had only shut its doors a few moments before as the lights were still on and workers were cleaning inside. He glanced at the business information sheet, finding its shutdown time to be rather early indeed.

"Great, a town where the streets roll up at night," he muttered to himself, shoving his hands in his jean pockets as a soft yet chilly wind wafted up from the ocean. He continued on down the road, remembering that the lady said the next closest was a diner that kept long hours specifically for travelers. Few cars passed by him, so dim yellow cones of light from the spaced streetlamps mostly lighted his path. Only a handful of people were still out and about on the town, and the relative quiet made it possible to hear the hiss and crash of the waves just down the road. A relaxing noise, Adian managed to get swept up in it so much that he almost past by the brightly lit diner.

He turned in to the parking lot just as a sudden wave of darkness swept over him, momentarily blacking out his vision and sending him pitching forward. He regained himself just before hitting the ground and with enough time to put his hands out to keep him from face planting the cement. Grunting at the shock of tingling pain send through his wrists, he rolled on to his back and sat up, gazing around the sleepy town with new eyes. Though spots danced across his eyes, there was no mistaking the feeling that clutched at his chest and raised his heartbeat to a panicked thudding against his ribcage.

_They're here all ready. Damn it! I gotta get back to the hotel..._

He leapt to his feet and bolted back the way he came, praying that he wasn't too late.

Back at the hotel Ceilidh slept soundly, undisturbed by even the loudest crashing wave outside their patio door or the faintest rustle coming from Jenria as she took pencil to a sketchbook, letting the picture come from her heart rather than her mind, as that was just too tormented to attempt to put on paper.

The room was peaceful, and despite their current situation all seemed right, as if they were merely on a vacation from the ordinary and not desperately fleeing for their lives from some unknown force. It was almost enough to make Jenria pull out her bathing suit and run carefree as a child through the frothing waves of the Oregon coast.

The thought brought a momentary smirk to her face, and a relocation of a time when she still had a conventional family of a mother, father, and brother. She had been born in Shinjuku District of Tokyo, Japan, a well off and respected neighborhood known for its friendly shops and almost perfectly built public parks. It was one of those few areas left in Tokyo that still had a high bike to car ratio on the streets, and though it was relatively close to the bay front, it was more of a port city than a tourist area with accessible beaches.

Being of an American mother, a woman who had traveled to the fair island country as a teenager and simply wound up staying, and a hard working Japanese father proved to be an interesting way to grow up for her and her brother Sakuya, but there was love there, and plenty of it. Despite their busy schedule her parents would find as much time during the year to visit the more costal area of Shirinami, which beaches and oceanfront properties people rented for weeks or months at a time. Up until the time her father's business had to be sold due to lack of profits and they completely relocated to America, Jenria and her brother would see that gorgeous ocean up to four times out of the year.

Strange that years later she found out her connection with the natural wonder of the ocean wasn't just emotional, but physical as well; she could draw upon its awesome power just as Ceilidh could weave her energy with fire, and Adian with air. It was their gift, given by ancient blood and passed down through generations, originating from a strange race of humans that were once revered and called upon as heroes for their awe inspiring abilities. It was this that made the three who they were, that had caused them and three others, now gone, to form a team of sorts, to live on the outskirts of a culture that, in their time, wouldn't be ready to handle such people living amongst them. It was that very borne ability that had strange forces chasing after them now, wanting them dead because of what they were capable of doing, and because of their connection to ancient people that had never fully been explained.

"Hm," she muttered aloud, "Wonder what would have happened, if Dad hadn't moved us..."

It was a thought that she only received a fraction of a second to dwell on. In a flash of almost white-hot pain, blackness enveloped her vision and she went tumbling out of her chair, sprawling on the floor as her arm and head connected with the seat of the chair, sending it to the ground as well.

The sudden ruckus was enough to jerk Ceilidh out of her sleep with a loud cry. She shot straight up, head jerking around from side to side and hand reaching for the lamp on the bedside table, the only close thing that could be used for a weapon as hers was currently in a bag at the other side of the room. Finding nothing of immediate danger she turned her eyes to the scene of disturbance, seeing Jenria on the floor, hair splayed out from her head and body turned at an odd angle.

Ceilidh cried out her name and leaped off the bed, sliding to her knees at Jenria's side. Carefully she checked the older girl for any visible wound and only found slight redness and bruising on the arm that had taken a hit from the chair. She then checked her pulse and found it strong but rapid, and her breathing strained but there. After that she lifted her up, finding it quite hard due to her currently incapacitated state, and gave her a light shake.

"Jen! Jen wake up!" she demanded of the unconscious girl. Jenria let out a sharp gasp, her whole body quaking with the force of it, her eyes springing open like she'd just been ran through by a blade. Ceilidh threw herself backwards with a yelp; the other girl thudded to the floor again as she barely had enough bearings to sit up on her own. She lay there, twitching and gulping for air as if her very lungs had been removed from her body momentarily and then returned. When she could manage it, she rose her head and stared at Ceilidh, still a few feet away and staring at Jenria like one would a possessed doll, her own eyes wild but clear, free of any signs of a mental hindrance.

"Adian's...in trouble..." she choked out, pushing herself on to her knees, "Down the road somewhere."

"What...?" Ceilidh asked, confused more about how Jenria acquired this information than the actual situation. The older one shook her head, rising to her trembling legs and stumbling for the long weapon sack they'd brought with them. She retrieved a light short sword and broadsword, both in scabbards, a large wooden crossbow, and a bladed long staff in an over the shoulder case. With trembling fingers she tried to work the belt on.

"No time to explain. We gotta help him. They've been following close by the whole time, hidden...we couldn't even feel them, they knew how to cover that somehow," she said as evenly as possible. Ceilidh nodded and got to her feet, walking over to Jenria and taking the belt in her hands. Steadily she slipped the leather through the clasp and secured it to the girl's chest.

"Are you going to be all right?" she asked, looking the girl in the eyes, hands still on the belt.

"If we save him, I'll be just fine," Jenria assured her, handing the girl her crossbow and light short sword, keeping Adian's broadsword with her. They left hastily; exiting the hotel area at the fastest speed their feet would carry them. Jenria guided the way; whatever connection to their leader she'd miraculously developed helping them in their quest for him. What she had seen while unconscious left her both terrified and angry, with anger driving most of her energy right then. She couldn't lose Adian, not even if everyone else in her life was destined to fade away. The two of them, Adian and Ceilidh, were her family now, and she would protect them at any cost.

She realized she was about to get that chance as the two of them skidded around a corner in to a strangely dark residential section of the town. On either side of them no lights offered comforting light, and down the road the ocean churned, inky black and furious with high tide. A high, almost howling wind pressed against them, unnatural in its energy and intensity. Adian was causing it just up ahead from them, his hand outstretched as he tried to keep three darkly clothed figures back from him. Each of them wielded two wicked Japanese style swords, too long to be wakatashis but too curved to be kitanas, and they were advancing on Adian despite his best efforts to shove them back with raised currents of wind. They were bizarre in appearance, inhumanly stretched out with long, thin arms that nearly went the entire length of their bodies and legs that bent down as if their full height would touch the havens themselves. Their 'clothing' wasn't really clothing at all, but wispy shadows clinging to thier gaunt forms, slithering around like snakes curling up to a kind master. Heads too small, hands too large, they looked so alien the two girls would have been convinced they'd fallen in to a science fiction show, if they weren't so sure they were already living in one.

One turned its head towards the two intruders, beady dots of red masked by complete blackness burning with hatred and a kind of thick, putrid loathing that could be felt from across the distant. It spoke, its voice raspy and words incomprehensive to them, and turned back on Adian, slowly closing the gap that separated it and helpless Adian. It raised its gangly arm above its head, preparing to strike down the boy.

"ADIAN!" Jenria screamed, stepping back and hurling the broadsword, case and all, with all the might she could muster. The creatures turned to look at her, almost appearing annoyed that she would dare think of interfering. The sword hurled over their heads and landed right next to Adian with a loud clank and rattle. He took no time hesitating despite his obviously weakened state and snatched his weapon off the ground, unsheathing it with a slick _shirk _noise, the blade slicing across the abdomen of the first attacker. Instead of spouting blood or even making the slightest scratch, it simply disturbed the wispy shadows about it, sending a flurry of black dots in to the air. Adian growled at the ineffectiveness but kept the weapon at hand, sheath in one fist and sword in the other.

The remaining two turned towards the girls, hissing and speaking in their crackling language, their voices angered by the sound of it. Ceilidh raised her crossbow, lined one of them in her sights and fired off three arrows in rapid succession. All three passed through it like it was nothing more than air and gravity. For all they knew, it very well could be.

"Not working!" Ceilidh yelled out, glancing at Jenria with desperation written all over her features.

"Keep trying!" she fumbled back in reply, pulling her bladed staff out and putting herself in a defensive stance. Further up Adian was now going one on one with his attacker, blocking hit after rapid hit with his own weapon.

"I'll just waste arrows!"

"Aim for the head!"

Uncertain but willing to do anything to get them out of their current predicament, she rose the crossbow again and let a small barrage fly at it. This time it simply lifted its strange sword and blocked each of them, sending them back to the ground uselessly with tiny tinks of contact. She tried once more alternating aim between the two of them hoping one would at least get distracted. Again her arrows wound up on the asphalt road.

"JEN! NOT! WORKING!" Ceilidh bellowed in panic, quickly retreating backwards.

"I know!" Jenria shouted, stepping back along with her friend as the two enemies bared down on them, "Shit shit shit shit..." she hissed between clenched teeth, death gripping her weapon before her. Suddenly her eyes were drawn to the ocean further down the street. Her mind clicked in to gear, pushing away fear and throwing logic in her face. She stopped her retreat, much to Ceilidh's surprise, and put herself in an offensive stance, smirking lightly despite her rapid heartbeat. She wiggled two fingers towards herself at the strange beings, and they instantly advanced upon her, a sound similar to laughter coming from them. They seemed to enjoy the thought of slaughtering the girl right where she stood.

That was a chance she wasn't about to easily hand over to them, though. When they were roughly two feet from her, Jenria suddenly ran towards them and stabbed her staff blunt end down in to the ground hard, causing her to launch in to the air and sail directly over them. Looking like an angel coming down from flight, she spread her arms wide upon decent and called forth all the power from the ocean that she could manage, mentally asking the torrid waters for assistance. She felt a rush inside of her, her body welcoming the sensation of the water's energies entwining with her own, making it like a rushing river inside herself. She knew what she was asking the ocean to do was both dangerous for her but for her friends, but it was the only resolution she had. They would not be taking down easily, and excessive force was what she planned on utilizing.

Just as she landed the ocean went dead silent, pulling everyone's attention towards it as the whole world seemed to suddenly lose its audio. She turned to Ceilidh who was now in a struggle with one of the other creatures, it pressing a single bladed weapon against her own light short sword. The girl stared at her with furrowed eyebrows and confusion riding most of her face.

"Find something to hold on to!" she called out, her voice louder than she had intended what with the lack of rumbling water behind them. Ceilidh nodded and quickly broke her battle with the creature, rolling to the side of it and finding a small tree to climb up in to. Just as her fingers felt for a hold on the splintered wood of the branch she'd scrambled to a loud groaning came from the direction of the beach. All heads turned to see a pillar of water, thickly dark, rising out from the body and heading in their direction. Water pulled in from the beach at all sides of it, and the noise quickly became a loud crashing din as it pulled its narrow self up to the streets.

Jenria ran for Adian, who was down on the ground once more, holding his wilding arm which boasted a large gash, the instant it hit the very bottom of the road, grabbing his arm and pulling him quickly towards the other side. She hauled the two of them on to a large house porch with a high floor and thick support beams, pressing her body against him and wrapping her arms around them, grasping the pillar for support. The water released its pillar form, crashing down upon the three shocked attackers with incredible force, rushing them up the street to the main road through town. All three of the young humans cried out as the cold costal water hit them, rushing over them at great speeds and almost detaching them from their places. Even Ceilidh up in her tree was hit, but she had managed to get high enough to be spared from most of its power. As much as Jenria could call upon the force of it, she couldn't control the actions of something so large, only ask it to assist them and let it do the rest.

Having completed said task, the ocean quickly receded back in to itself as if had simply experienced a bout of extremely high tide. Jenria sent a spiritual thanks to it and unwound her soaked self from Adian. Dripping wet and pale from his deep wound, he still managed to find a smile for her.

"Thanks," he said softly. She took a shuttering breath, calming her wracked body from such an expenditure, and nodded with an equally relieved smile. Up the street three smoke like forms lay in a tumble on the ground, unmoving and red eyes dulled, possibly unconscious or even dead. Whatever the case, they were defeated and the three heroes thought themselves safe, even dripping wet, bruised, cut and cold.

Ceilidh jumped down from her perch, walking over to her two friends as Jenria pulled Adian down off the porch, giving her body as support since his ankle had also been twisted in his attempt to ward off his attacker.

"That was it? Wow, Andrea really needs to get her priorities straight!" Ceilidh boasted, shaking her head in disapproval at their would be killers.

"Cei..." Adian protested with a chastising look.

"I'm serious! Sure we couldn't hit them if they had targets pasted on them, but a little water and they're out! Ridiculous! We let our home get burned down for _this_?"

Distant, echoing applause filled the darkness, a single pair of hands clapping together. All three jumped, grabbing their weapons for ready as they all scanned the inky street for a sign of where it could be coming from. A man, or at least a man-like being, emerged from the shadows two houses down from them and crossed the green and damp yards towards them.

Though he looked much more human than his ghostly companions, there was evidence that he was of the same odd race. His arms were much too long, body pulled taught like a rubber band, and his legs didn't quite straighten fully. Almost moonlight white skin glowed in the dimness of the street, his fingers extended just far too long, and, while clothed in a long black trench coat and simple black jeans, he couldn't completely hide the fact that he wasn't a normal human being.

At that moment he was clapping those stretched out hands together, a smirk riding his vampiric features.

"Such boldness for one so young. Tell me child, are you always so…arrogant?" he inquired of her, turning onyx eyes to Ceilidh as he halted about five feet from the trio. Ceilidh's mouth opened to retort, but found herself in a silent shock at this thing's appearance, "I should hope not. Some one of your age has…so much to learn," he added, waving a bony hand about. His voice was much different from that of his alien counterparts. He was obvious able to speak English, and while he retained a certain gravely quality, his tone was almost melodic, lilting and light.

"W-who…?" Jenria managed to stammer out, also afflicted by the strange inability to speak.

"Hm," the thing mused, shifting his gaze over them to the heap of strange creatures behind them, "They spent months searching you out. I have to admit using the phone lines was a bit unconventional but it did the trick," he said, uncaring to their questioning stares, "You'd think with the world so connected these days, it would become easier to track down a group such as yourselves, but I underestimated technology a great deal. It, in fact, hides you. Hah! How convenient for you, too, to have the annoying spirit of your friend notice what I'm up to. If it hadn't been for her silly warning, I would have demolished you along with your house back in that redneck spot on the map you dare to call a town."

Adian let out a growl, fist clenching at the mention of his close deceased friend. He was the first to get over the strange affliction, snarling at the strange one in a threatening voice, "You'd better leave her Andrea. She's dead, let her rest in peace."

"Mm, mm, mm," their adversary tsk'd, moving closer and taking Adian's chin in his eccentric fingers. Adian winced, finding the milky flesh cold and almost scaly to the touch. Incapacitated at Jenria's side, though, he was unable to do much more than try to twist his head away, "Adian, correct? I had a feeling you might just open that mouth of yours about her," the thing seethed, leaning in close as the young man desperately avoided those odd blackened eyes, "She's been taken care of, so to speak, so you'd best not worry your little head about the woes of the dead. It's the ones of the living around you right now that should be at the top of your list."

"Who…are you?" Ceilidh finally demanded with her voice so meek compared to her usual self.

"Oh, dear. I do apologize for the lack of for introduction!" it said in a creepily cheerful voice, releasing Adian's face suddenly, "While I don't have a conventional name like you, I have become quite partial to the name Lionel, so that is what I shall be called!" he paused a breath, turning to walk back the way he came in an almost pacing fashion before continuing on, "As for what I am, since that is no doubt on your mind, I am of the Deaengel race, not that you would know who they are. Let us just say that your ancestors and my own have been at odds ends for some millennia now. And while I have so much enjoyed this conversation of ours," he paused, turning back on them and withdrawing a long, thin, yet still lethal looking blade from the inside of his coat. A deep purple and black aura slithered about the length of metal, twisting up to the strange one's arm, an obvious extension of his own dark power, "I do regretfully have to eliminate you now and thus negating the line of descendants from this realm of existence."

All three of them cried out, going for their weapons simultaneously. They were all stopped short as the other three, Lionel's possible minions, suddenly grabbed each one from behind, restricting their access to their weapons with amazing power for their spindly forms.

Lionel was on them in a flash of a second, having risen about ten feet off the ground to strike at them with an aerial shot. His weapon was raised above his head, energy and darkness swarming about him like locust in a windstorm. Ceilidh screamed out while Jenria simply turned her head away, preparing herself for the blow. Adian, on the other hand, was still fuming from what he had said about Andrea and wasn't willing to go down without one last fight.

"NO!" he screamed out, stretching out his fingers from where his hands were pinned down and calling forth the still air in to a sudden circular flurry from the ground up, creating a miniature tornado on the fly. Though lacking in size, he made sure it wasn't lacking in strength and sent as much power as he could bring up to the inside of it. The force of the tornado shoved the trio back, causing their captors to lose their hold on them and go rolling away like so many tumbleweeds. Lionel himself struck the top of the tornado with his sword, both the wind drawn cone and his energy crackling outwards as the two made an electric contact. Adian was sitting on the grassy lawn on his knees, continuing to send his energy in to it as the stranger pressed down hard on it from the air, trying to break his resolve.

"Give it up!" Lionel's crackly voice boomed suddenly, "Your fate is inevitable, child, there is no use fighting like this!"

"NEVER!" Adian screamed back out, shoving back harder.

At that moment something strange and all together wondrous occurred. Adian's energy swirling within the wind tunnel latched on to Lionel's darkness and tugged it inside, spinning both around and around until they had oddly blended together within the confines of the wind. Lightening shot out from all angles, striking the ground repeatedly and sending chunks of ground and road hurling in to the air.

"Holy shit…" Ceilidh mumbled, staring at the cyclone, as it became a swirling mass of purple and yellow that grew brighter and less wind like by the second.

"Not normal…" Jenria muttered, shaking her head in disbelief and worry. The girls could only stand and watch it occur, their hair and clothes whipping about them and fear etched in to their faces.

Suddenly the tornado began to shrink inwards, flattening out in to a disk shape that hovered in the air, spinning wildly and throwing off sparks in every direction it could manage. Lionel was tossed off backwards by the intense force of it, causing him to land flat on his back a good twenty feet away. Adian, on the other hand, had energy coming at him instead of putting it out, and the backup caused him to scream in pain as every nerve ending was sent some kind of momentary but still painful shock. Jenria, seeing that he couldn't break free of the strange cyclone's hold, darted forward and tackled Adian to the ground, pulling his connection from it.

Lionel, meanwhile, had recovered from his throw quickly and had started to make his way around it, behind the three while they were distracted with staring in confusion at the creation now whirling above them.

Said object had slowed its speed only to lean downwards until it stood at a diagonal angle. The wind shifted, as well, pulling things inward instead of pushing it outward. Grass and other loose objects were instantly pulled inside, yet the might of it was not enough to pull the three of them inside.

"A portal. It's a damn portal," Ceilidh observed as she kneeled down next to Jenria and Adian. Adian, while in significant pain now, was still coherent enough to understand and nod in muted agreement with her.

"Where does it go?" Jenria questioned. Ceilidh turned to her, seeing the three strange creatures rise from their last landing place out of the corner of her eye.

"At this point it could lead to the ninth circle of hell and I wouldn't care, just so long as we weren't here!"

"But…this is a random phenomenon that can't possibly happen again! How will we get home?" Jenria demanded, eyes going huge at the thought of crossing that threshold. Adian grunted and struggled to get to his feet against his friend's protests.

"We stay here, we're dead anyway!" he called out, the wind picking up a little, causing enough din to make it difficult to hear, "I say we take it!" Ceilidh nodded and rose as well, moving to stand next to him. Jenria glanced over her shoulder, now seeing not only the creatures but also Lionel as well advancing on them.

"Fine! Go! I'll cover you!" she called out after her friends, getting behind them.

"What about you?" Ceilidh asked, worry taking over briefly. Jenria just shook her head, placing a hand on either of their backs and giving a rough shove to both towards it. They stumbled and were lifted in to the air, spinning about and flailing from the sudden lack of gravity that tugged them slowly towards the whirling portal. Just as Ceilidh was faced towards Jenria once more, her expression became terrified and she pointed down at the older girl, screaming as loud as she could manage, "JEN, LOOK OUT!"

Just then yellow light engulfed both her and Adian, causing them to vanish in a flash and a crack of energy.

Jenria spun around and ducked an inch only to have a burning ache tear through her upper shoulder. Gasping for breath as her lungs and heart stuttered from shock, she stared down in gaping horror at the long, thin blade that was jutting through her very body, dripping crimson with blood that also bloomed on her white cotton shirt. Just as her mind registered that there was a sword through her, Lionel removed it just as quickly, sending another jolt of electric pain through her. A gurgling cry escaped her lips as she fell to her knees.

"Oh…oh…god…"

"I'm afraid you are not in God's favor tonight, child," Lionel informed her with a sadistic chuckle as he walked around her, wiping his blade clean with a once immaculate white handkerchief, "While your friends may have survived, I assure you it won't be a permanent state for them. They will join you, soon enough," and with that he gestured to his followers to come forward with their own blades. Jenria swayed on her knees, vision dancing between black and focus, helpless, about to meet her end in a horrible manner.

She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the final blow nonetheless, only to be surprised by a yellow light enveloping her even though she was on the ground.

"NO!" she heard Lionel cry out as she felt her body rise off the ground and ascend towards the portal.

The last thing she could recall before complete blackness took over her physical senses was a view of the ocean through a haze of blur and swiftly moving yellow swirls, and a disturbing feeling of peace.


	4. Chapter Four: Dilemma

Chapter Four

Hyrule Royal Castle

Lower and lower the sun sank behind the rolling horizon of Hyrule, glowing as fire in its slow decent, bring in inky night in its wake. Distant stars began to appear in the velvet, like pinpricks being randomly poked about in thick fabric, revealing brilliant light upon the other side. Cresting one of the many green hills that made up the majority of Hyrule stood a towering ivory castle, with light blazing from every window and soft music flowing from the interior. Carriages and reigned steeds stood on the half circle pathway before the open gates that two guards were standing at vigilant attention.

Separated from the merriment of the ball down below, a lone figure stood on one of the many balconies that lined the castle's exterior. His arms rested upon the thick marble railing, ocean blue eyes staring outwards towards the multicolored sunset. Behind him the large glass pane doors stood open wide, a flittering breeze lifting the gauzy fabric curtains in their hold and causing them to dance about. The room beyond was lavishly decorated, with a large four-poster bed complete with royal purple and violet draperies. Though decked out as if a member of the royal family owned it, it was just one of hundreds of rarely used guest rooms about the palace.

The one that was currently making use of it had come up there to get away from the livery of the party being held down below. Not only did he feel immensely out of place at such royal functions, he simply had far too much on his mind to even pretend like he was enjoying himself, something he'd become quite adept at since being repeatedly dragged by the daughter of the royal family, Princess Zelda.

The well known and often praised Hero of Time, better known to his closest friends as Link, found himself better prepared to stare out in to the nothingness of space as it came in to view through the blanket of night, than take on hundreds of Zelda's guests fawning over him, telling him what a 'strapping young man' he was, and reminding him of all the quests and deeds he'd rather not dwell upon. He had to wonder offhandedly if any of the guests even truly missed him, now that he'd taken his leave over a half an hour previously. It was a though he shrugged off, deciding it wasn't the thing to be worrying about at that moment.

Normally very aware of his surroundings, Link was completely caught off guard by a light hand coming to rest on his shoulder and a soft voice speaking his name with heavy concern. Though he jumped visibly before turning, he managed to swallow the gasp that had threatened to explode from him. Hand on his chest as if it could slow his hammering heart, he some how managed to give the worried looking princess a bright smile.

"Heh. Hey, princess," he mumbled, trying to sound as polite as possible.

"Link? Is everything all right?" the blonde haired princess questioned, noting how strained the older boy appeared. His expression looked strained, especially under the various lighting from the moon and the burning lamps glowing inside the room. Link winced at her tone, turning back to the balcony, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck, a few tufts of golden blonde sticking up at odd angles.

"I've just got a lot on my mind right now, princess," he admitted, halfway telling the truth, "Sometimes that music can get so loud, I can barely hear myself think."

"Oh. I see. You should have said something when I invited you. You didn't have to come," Zelda said, stepping up to the balcony to lean her own gloved arms upon it, her crystal blue gaze staring up at the bright white three quarters moon that hung low in the evening sky.

Link raised an eyebrow, glancing at her sideways as he thought in a slightly bitter tone, _Would you have listened? Every time you invite me you make it sound as if all of Hyrule would fall should I not arrive precisely on time._ Instead of risking her wrath by speaking something so presumptuous, Link simply gave a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders and turned his attention to the same spot, which happened to be just above Lake Hylia. After a while a smirk graced his angular features, his hand moving from the back of his neck to his pointed ear as he scratched at it, looking to Zelda once more.

"I see that you're in no hurry to whisk yourself back down there, either, princess," he said with a tiny bit of humor lacing his words. Zelda's face lowered a bit with a blush, a few curls of blonde falling before her eyes as she looked to the ground with a small smile.

"You caught me, then. My father was parading me before suitors yet again, and I just had to get away from it for a while. Those stuffy men, so high and mighty on those gilded perches of theirs! I couldn't stand it, I felt like some pet being put on display. Goddesses forbid _any _of them view a woman as anything close to an equal! I-what…?" she trailed off suddenly, realizing that Link's smirk had grown in to an all out smile that was just waiting to release laughter, which it did the second she halted her ramblings, "What? Oh, don't laugh at me like that, Link, you make me feel like a fool!" she whined, dropping a fist on to the railing in frustration. Link sucked in a few short breaths, trying to compose himself despite the humor he found in the situation.

"Your face turns a lovely shade of red when you get all worked up like that, princess. I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself," he explained to her, a warm and genuine grin upon his lips.

"Ohh!" Zelda grumbled, dejectedly placing her chin upon her fist and deliberately turning her face away from him.

"Come on, princess! I didn't mean any harm!" Link pleaded, arms outward in surrender as he tried to lean down and get a view of her hidden face, "I know it must be _horrible_ being you, waited on all the time, never having to save any lands from certain destruction, always looking so proper-"

"Now you're just being condescending," she snapped, still turned away in her skulking stance. Link's beaming face fell and he gave a sigh, pulling his green pointed hat off and running a hand through his constantly messy golden hair.

"All right, all right, I apologize, I was just trying to have a little fun. Seriously, if you don't laugh at the situation then you're just going to be miserable with it all the time, Zelda."

The younger female blinked, eyebrows arching high at the use of her name instead of her formality. It was something Link rarely did, as he seemed to be genetically wired to constantly be polite no matter the circumstance. Using her name in that manner was his way of trying to get her to lighten up, and it had worked since they were young children. It was a reminder of sorts that when it came right down to it, they were both just living beings in the same land, despite their status. Sighing, she turned and managed a smile for him, nodding slowly.

"I apologize as well, then. You're right, I should-"

**_CRACK!_**

The resounding noise echoed through the empty field stretched out before them, spooking the horses down below and even causing the orchestra in the main ballroom to cease playing as everyone asked in a chorus of voices what could have made such a tremendous noise. Both Link and Zelda gave jumps of surprise, Zelda's gloved hands covering her mouth as she emitted a cry of fear. Her wide eyes and Link's narrowed ones searched over the darkened land for its source, and the guards down below were shouting orders to one another, several of them coming out of the castle with armor and weapons clinking as they ran to join their compatriots at the open gates.

"What-" Zelda had started to ask. Link held up a hand to silence her, his eyes still trained on the field as he leaned ever further over the railing. Something in his instinct told him to look skyward, which he did so with an uncertain frown creasing his lips. His hand twitched to his belt, which desperately that the guards weren't so damn incessant on taking his weaponry at the door.

After what seemed like ages, when Link was just starting to convince himself that it was something completely harmless, a strange yellow glow started to form in the sky just above Lake Hylia. Slowly it blossomed outwards, like a strange flowing stain upon the darkened night sky, until finally it was as large as a house. White began to bleed in to it, moving until it made a perfect swirl inside of the yellow. Energy started to crackle outwards and a high wind picked up as if some giant was blowing breath upon the land. The sky around it turned a bizarre shade of reddish orange swarming with black clouds, and below it all the world had gone silent, any animal or man simply too shocked and fearful to make a noise.

"Oh Naryu…" Zelda whispered upon this sight, a hand resting on her chest as she tried to comprehend what her eyes were seeing.

"Not good," Link muttered shortly after. As if to affirm his statement another crack resounded through the night, startling everyone around. From the strange swirling mass in the sky three figures, possibly human, tumbled out from the center of it. They plummeted towards the lake, the very last one to come out seeming to hurtle more like an object that had been thrown than simply spat out. Everyone waited in deft silence to see what would happen next. Zelda had even found herself pressing her stomach against the railing rather uncomfortably to get a closer view of what was taking place. Yet one more splitting noise shook the countryside, and another trio of figures was produced from the strange vortex. These, unlike the ones prior, stopped in mid air just below the yellow anomaly, hovering for a moment before taking off in to the night, away from the lake and disappearing as little black dots in the sky. Just as quickly as it had come to be in the sky, the yellow mass vanished without so much as another sound. The strange redness in the sky faded and an unnerving stillness settled over the land. Zelda finally found the strength to tear her eyes away from the lake, only to see Link with a familiar expression of determination on his face. Below her at the palace front entrance she could hear her father's voice distantly shouting orders in a strained tone that wasn't entirely covering for his obvious fear of the situation at hand.

"Link…be careful, okay?" Zelda said knowingly, placing a hand on his shoulder once more, feeling the rough texture of his green tunic beneath her fingers. Link turned to her, eyes softening as he came up with a tiny smile, "You don't have any idea if what came out of there was dangerous or not. So please, be careful," she reiterated softly. Link nodded slowly, patting her hand gently before taking off through the room. She listened as his heavy footsteps faded down the stairwell and eventually came out to the front lawn where her father and two guards were already saddled up.

The princess leaned back over the railing, just barely able to see them all standing a few feet from the exterior gate. Link had already retrieved his weapons from the guards that confiscated them for the duration of the party and was pulling his chestnut mare by the reigns to where the other three stood. The king of Hyrule took note of his approach, looking up at the young man with an unreadable expression. Zelda could just barely make out the words spoken between them.

"You'll go with them, lad?" the king asked. Link gave a slightly awkward bow and a nod.

"I will, your majesty," he responded solemnly while putting his foot in the stirrup and mounting Epona.

"Find out what that was, and who, or what, those things were that fell from the sky. Bring the ones that went to the lake here, if you must. I just want answers!"

"Sir!" the two guards chorused in unison, saluting the king. Link gave a simple nod and turned Epona, sending her running off towards Lake Hylia with a click of his tongue. The guards quickly followed suit, leaving the king to stand, alone in the field with his thoughts for the moment. Slowly he turned and gazed up to his daughter standing on the balcony, the flickering lamps from the room backlighting her in thick shadows. He frowned at her; a tight, seldom seen expression that seemed to say that the uncertainty was more fearful than anything the kingdom had faced before. Zelda sensed it all around her, the tenseness, and the thickness of the air that had not been there before.

Whatever they were up against this time around, Zelda couldn't help but silently wonder if Link was up to the challenge this time, whatever it may be.

Above Lake Hylia

Darkness, infinite darkness, spanning onward forever and crushing inward in measurements of seconds. That was all that surrounded Adian, that was all he could feel, all he could touch and grasp in those moments. He felt as light as a feather and as heavy as a car, a bird in flight and a 747 plummeting to its death at high velocity. His mind reeled with questions, but he couldn't grasp them for their words had suddenly turned to gibberish in his head. He couldn't tell if he was just slipping in and out of reality, or simply floating away from everything and anything all at once. He could vaguely remember strange shadows that didn't seem normal, and a man-like creature with a name that he couldn't recall. There was something yellow, hovering in the sky, but for the life of him nothing made sense. He knew there was something important he was doing, but he couldn't bring up the memory of what it was.

A small part of him comprehended that he was falling from somewhere, but it felt like falling forever in an endless dark void that had no beginning and no end. Falling through a matrix of sorts, where all the answers of the universe might just lie, if you knew where to look for them.

Suddenly true reality hit when a cold, stinging sensation slammed in to him like a bag of bricks thrown at his head. He gasped sharply, trying to suck in air but only taking in cold, harsh water. Gurgling, his eyes opened to find himself submersed in a deep, clear body of water that he couldn't identify. Below him moist dirt, plants, and fish made up most of the habitat, and above the only thing he could make out was the tiny, rippling, luminous dot of a moon in a completely dark sky. His lungs burned and his mind kicked in to overdrive in a matter of seconds and he quickly began thrashing his legs in a desperate effort to pull himself to the surface. He broke throat, sucking in air through the droplets of water that ran down his soaked face. Gazing back upwards to the starry night he realized the feeling of falling had been more real then what he'd previously thought. He'd been hurled straight in to a huge body of water that was surprisingly not the ocean they'd been battling next to previously. Instead this appeared to be a gigantic lake surrounded by hills with a few small islands dotting its interior. Next to him he could see two sets of ripples, one with only one point of entry motion, and the other moving towards the shore up ahead. Ceilidh was scrambling for the shore about twenty feet ahead of him, flailing and splashing so much it was hard to clearly see her form in the darkness of the night. Glancing back over his shoulder he could finally see blood slowly rising up, staining the water a liquid red inside the stagnant ripples.

_Ceilidh and me are here. Then who is-Ohgod. JENRIA!_

Coming upon the realization that his other teammate was sinking to the bottom of the lake injured and unable to surface, Adian quickly turned and started back for her, praying that she would make it.

"Adian!" Ceilidh called out, her voice hoarse. She'd made it to shore, only to find Adian swimming back out to the center of the lake, "Get out of the water!" She screamed desperately at him, her voice sounding strangely winded, as if something had hit her on the back hard enough to cause her to lose breath momentarily.

"But Jenria-" before Adian could even finish his sentence, something slammed in to his back, throwing him face first back down in to the water and under a few feet. He came sputtering back to the surface, his lungs screaming in strained pain, and turned around to see an outlandish purple creature with a funnel for a nose and short tentacles coming out of a narrow body. That very funnel was hurling huge rounded boulders at them, its large eyes narrowed in obvious anger at having its lake invaded by strangers. Adian let out a yelp and ducked back down in the water, quickly putting himself back in the direction of the shore as he haltingly swam beneath the surface, his lungs and back still aching from the hit he'd taken.

He felt hands around his forearm pulling him on to the sandy, slightly damp ground. Both of them dripping wet, gasping for air and shaken, the two appeared much less like warriors now.

"What…about…Jen?" Adian gasped, barely able to keep breath inside his lungs.

"There's nothing we can do!" Ceilidh choked out, tears mixing in with the fresh water that dripped down her cheeks, "That thing will kill us if we try to go back and get her!"

"NO! I'm not giving up on her!" Adian cried, attempting to scramble back to the lake. Ceilidh barely had the strength to hold on to his sopping wet clothing, and she was certain she was going to lose him to the creature. Another stone was hurled with a strange 'phoot!' noise. Ceilidh shrieked and dropped her body to the ground, some how managing to grab a hold of Adian's arm and pull him down with her. The stone cracked on a hill behind them, narrowly missing their venerable heads. As soon as the danger had passed Adian attempted to get to his feet again, only this time Ceilidh latched both arms around his. Her small body was practically vaulted off the ground as he stood.

"ADIAN! PLEASE!" she sobbed, "Use common sense for once, goddamn it! There's no sense in two of you dying tonight!"

"No one is going to die tonight!" Adian protested, reaching out with his free hand as though he could simply pluck Jenria out of the water and rescue her. So intent on bringing Jenria back to them, Adian never saw the third rock come directly at him. It smashed in to him at full force, sending both him and Ceilidh, who still had a hold of his arm, flying backwards. Adian bounced to a stop on his back, skidding a few feet in the dirt before coming to a full rest, his breath coming in wheezes and his eyes closed as the hit had rendered him unconscious once more. Ceilidh on the other hand had managed to get her footing somewhere in the fall and had simply somersaulted backwards to come to a crouched defensive position, just in time to avoid another projectile. She growled in frustration upon seeing Adian indisposed, leaving her to deal with the threat on her own.

"Okay asshole, you're _really_ starting to get on my nerves!" she bellowed, reaching behind her back to find that her crossbow was still attached to her. Removing it from the holster, she loaded an arrow and took aim upon the bizarre thing in the lake. Before she had a chance to fire, though, the sound of multiple horses galloping in that general direction caught her attention. She turned her head towards the source and what appeared to be a small inlet opening in the hilly wall that surrounded the lake.

Three men, two dressed in silver armor while riding white stallions and one dressed in a green tunic with white breeches riding a chestnut mare, burst on to the scene, only to capture the creature's attention as well. It turned towards them, momentarily forgetting about the girl on the shore, and launched one its projectiles at them.

"Look out!" the one in the green tunic cried out, jerking his horse's reigns. The other two did the same and all three horses scattered in different directions. The boulder cracked harmlessly on the ground where they once stood. He quickly grabbed a bow that was slung on his back, aimed, and let a single arrow fly. It lodged perfectly dead center in the creature's head, causing it to reel on to its back and let out a single puff of air before vanishing completely in the water.

Ceilidh saw her opening. It was possible that these men had ill intent towards her and her companions, but it didn't matter; she had a chance to save Jenria now, if there was any saving her at all, and she was going to take it. She bolted forward, feet pounding the ground as swiftly as she could force them, and threw herself with a haphazard dive in to the freezing lake water.

Arms rotating, she pushed down to the bottom where she could see Jenria's limp form resting on the lake floor, blood slowly rising up in thin spindles from a shoulder wound. Despite her lungs protesting this strenuous act and the pressure building with each foot she went deeper, she continued down, finally reaching her friend. Grabbing Jenria's uninjured arm, Ceilidh hoisted the girl next to her and turned back, kicking desperately as she tried to make for the surface that suddenly seemed so terribly far away, especially with the dead weight she was now carrying.

Try as she might the girl could just not get the speed needed to raise herself to the top, and eventually she simply started sinking back down, her eyes starting to close as her brain shut down from lack of oxygen.

_No! Please…don't let us die…_her half conscious mind pleaded to whatever higher power might have the ability to hear her mental cry. She gave one final grunt, one last attempt at pushing upward, losing about a foot on her descending position. Certainty of the end took over her mind, and she was about to resign herself to not only her death but the death of Jenria as well when a strong arm wrapped about her waist and hoisted her upwards. Her head broke the water and she coughed harshly, bringing in air in small, desperate gulps. Blinking water from her eyes as she was pulled towards the shore she could make out the blurred figure of the green tunic man next to her. Miraculously, she'd also held on to Jenria through the ordeal, though she had to wonder how much good it was going to do. She was in terrible shape, as not a breath came from her and her gaping wound was still oozing blood despite the water that washed so much away.

Adian had managed to rouse himself from his unconscious state during his friend's rescue and was waiting for them at the edge of the lake even though the two in armor seemed determined to keep a very close eye on him. Once all three had broken through, Adian sloshed through the water to hip height, quickly taking Ceilidh's load from her. He carried Jenria back to dry land, gently resting her on the ground. He quickly checked her pulse, placing two fingers on the side of her throat. Amazingly a tiny bit of life still beat within her, her heart giving a flutter every few seconds. She drew no breath, though, and Adian knew he had to act quickly if he was going to bring her back from the brink. As he began mouth to mouth resuscitation Ceilidh was being brought back to shore by the green tunic man.

They both came to a rest a few feet away from where Adian was urgently trying to save Jenria, Ceilidh coughing and sputtering as she worked to expel the water she'd inhaled before being rescued.

"Who…are you…? And…where are we…for that matter…?" she managed to wheeze out in between coughs and gasps. The man raised a blonde eyebrow at her, blue eyes narrowed in an unreadable expression.

"I should ask you the same question, ma'am. I've got a whole kingdom wondering who you and your companions are, and what exactly happened in the sky tonight," he said, his voice actually betraying the youth that his eyes and stature hid.

"Kingdom?" Ceilidh echoed, panic starting to rise slightly in her tone, "Oh Christ, we are _not _on Earth anymore," she muttered in hoarse shock. Behind them Jenria let out a gurgling cough, her body jerking and back arching as water came spewing from her lips, spraying Adian. She regained consciousness for all of a second, taking enough time to see the sky above her with wide eyes before she gave a horrid moan, eyes rolling back as she flopped like a dead fish back to the ground.

"Shit…" Adian hissed angrily, pulling his sopping wet shirt off and pressing it to the wound on Jenria's shoulder. Little good it did, as the sword injury ran all the way through, having torn muscle and nicking bone with its entry and exit, "She's not going to survive if we don't get her some help, Cei!"

Ceilidh winced at those words, sucking in a sharp breath as she suppressed a scream of frustration. She turned her forest green eyes to the man, expression becoming pleading and fraught.

"I can tell you don't trust us right now, and I don't blame you, but right now I'm hoping you can put that aside. Please. For Jenria's sake, don't let her die out here, not like this. We'll explain everything we can to whoever we need to, I promise."

"Sir?" one of the armored individuals addressed the man cautiously having overheard the conversation. The blonde man sighed heavily, reaching up to remove his green cap from his head, scratching his damp hair with his hand before running his palm over it. He stared at Ceilidh long and hard, sizing her up, reading past her emotions and seeming to pierce right in to her very soul with his lipid blue eyes. Finally he rose and headed for his horse, pulling a thick red blanket from one of the saddlebags. The mare simply watched him with baleful eyes, seeming particularly indifferent to the situation.

"Confiscate their weapons and take them back to the castle. I'm going on ahead with this one," he said, kneeling down next to the dark haired girl. Though breathing now, her condition had only improved by that slight bit. Everything else about her unconscious state showed that, if she were to survive, it would be a long and arduous recovery.

Adian looked to the man, trying to appear as much of the leader figure that he could manage. He couldn't hide the fear that was in his eyes, though, and it was clear it wasn't just for himself but for his team as well.

"What will happen to us?"

"That is up to the king to decide, but if you are honest and you mean no ill towards Hyrule, I don't suspect anything grave will happen," the man admitted, looking him straight in the eyes before lifting Jenria in the blanket, holding her limp body to him securely, "When I arrive at the castle I will tell him what I know. The rest is up to you, once you get there."

Frowning, but knowing he had no choice but to let them go, Adian watched as the man carefully mounted his horse with Jenria held on the saddle before him. He turned towards them, speaking one last time.

"My name is Link. When this ordeal is over, I will have my own questions for you to answer!"

With that, the man known as Link rode off in to the darkness, leaving the two with uncertainty weighing heavily on their minds.


End file.
